Web Divergence - Week 1

What first caught my eye when I started blogging were the blogs about hearing loss, of course since I have experienced hearing loss I thought that I would continue on to get more information from that category.

This website is really interesting. It may explain why I have experienced hearing loss, and it can help others to prevent hearing loss if you know what your child has.

This website talks about Otitis Media, which mostly occurs in infants and young children, it is a tendancy for young children to experience ear infections regularly. As a result of the ear infections many people who have Otitis Media experience hearing loss.

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/otitism.asp

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I was looking at optical illusions and came across a simple paragraph that I ran into a couple years back. I chose this visual phenomena because it's fascinating to me that our mind can recognize patterns so well that it can actually make sense of a mis-ordered pattern of one of our main forms of communication

http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000840.php

Unfortunately, most; if not all links are outdated and don't go anywhere. However, if you scroll down into the comments of others on this page you can see the people experimenting with different languages, fonts, capitalization, etc. For me personally, it became more difficult to distinguish words as they got longer which could be due to a couple of factors. The longer word, logically, would require more processing time for the brain to sift through the possible permutations of the word and then selecting the right one based on its surrounding context.

What do you guys think?

As I was looking for websites I came across something called the mosquito. It was a high pitch noise invented to keep teenagers from loitering infront of store shops somewhere in Britain. I have heard of the ringtone that adults can't hear before but I never knew that it had started out to repell teenagers. Apparently it has been turned around and used as a teenage ringtone in class rooms because it is too high pitched for the teachers to hear. The article says that it is the most common sensory abnormality in the world. We all know of hearing loss but I wasn't aware that people lose parts of their hearing as early at 30 years old.
Here is the link telling the history
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/technology/12ring.html
And here is a link to the actual sound if you would like to see if you can hear it yourself or not!

http://www.freemosquitoringtones.org/

I'm very interested in colorblind individuals. My father and one of my male cousins are both colorblind and it always fascinated me. It also interested me because of the fact that if I have a son I can pass it on to him, because it is a male dominated trait that is passed through the mother, although the mother is not typically colorblind. I found an interesting website that I enjoyed because it shares different facts on colorblind people and also has access to a colorblind test. If you're interested in colorblindness or finding out if you are colorblind, I suggest visiting the website.

http://tjshome.com/colorblind.php

My dad had ear surgery a few years ago for hearing loss in one of his ears. I looked into what exactly was done in this procedure (called tympanoplasty) and thought this website was pretty helpful http://www.surgery.com/procedure/tympanoplasty#Information
With this surgery, tissue from other parts of the ear is taken and used to repair an injured ear drum.
I also found this website. It shows an actual tympanoplasty being done. It's pretty long and I thought it was a little gross seeing them make the incisions in the ear but I think it was kind of cool that it was posted online.
http://www.kyent.com/videos/tympanoplasty/eardrum-repair.htm

I'm really interested on how we experience and make sense of the world through all of our senses and how different it is for everybody. What intrigues me the most is that our brain sometimes doesn't perceive things how they really are and trick us into thinking we are experience something that is not. Well, I believe no one can experience things how they truly are but as humans our experiences are somehow similar. There are so many things that trick us that makes me think on how good can you trust your own senses.
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/reality/looklike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z-VBg055gc

I was searching the internet about music and came across an article about how people process it differently. The article states that when the music stops (or is temporarily interrupted by disconnected headphones) our brains will "fill-in" the silence by mentally predicting the proceeding note in the melody. Our brains have expectations of what the music should sound like, and these expectations vary from person to person. Researchers show that these expectations are largely shaped by learning through the experience of music and that musically inclined individuals are better able to expect what note should follow next. The question psychologists are now looking more closely at is do we have "rules" of music innately built in or is learned unconsciously as we listen to music more and more?

This is the article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100115204704.htm

In class on Thursday, we briefly mentioned gambling addiction. This is a very interesting topic to me. I wanted to look at the addiction from a casino's point of view. I looked up the Meskwaki Casino's website and couldn't find any warning or proclamation of gambling's pathologically addictive attributes. I mean, the government requires all packages of cigarettes to have a disclaimer, what's so different here? I tried to find some intuitive websites about gambling but mostly ran into articles that required a membership and a fee. So i found a basic dsm4 fact sheet here:
http://www.psychnet-uk.com/dsm_iv/pathological_gambling.htm

also, Meskwaki's website:
http://www.meskwaki.com/casino/player_development.html

I think alot of the addiction comes from the 'big bang' type theory and hoping to hit it big. I forgot to add in my post that alot of visual cues come up during the big bang, lights go off, the screen flashes winner, their all reinforcers. Even after the gambler has won the big one, somehow they always seems to creep back and put more money in the machine.

Week 1 Web Divergence
Topic: Magic

Naturally I chose the visual psychology of magic for my first topic since it gives me a reason to spend several hours searching through new websites, as well as looking at some of my old favorite websites in a new way. The first link is to a specific effect on the Quirkology website that I’ve known about for some time.
http://www.quirkology.com/USA/Video_MirrorTrick.shtml
Dr. Richard Wiseman has done a lot of work with the more bizarre psychological phenomena that we experience in day to day life, and using visual illusions is perhaps the best way to let people experience quickly what is happening every second of people’s waking life. The thing I like about the tricks that he chooses is that all of them are perfectly executed and take place in real time, without cutaways, camera tricks, or bogus psychological explanations throwing you off the track.
The main argument of the Hoffman text is that every visual experience we have is constructed. Not simply puzzles or unnaturally constructed illusions but every sensory experience we have. The mirror trick above is a perfect example. The effect is that while performing movements in front of a mirror it is shown that although an object can be vanished, it’s reflection will remain.
Here’s how the trick works. Instead of a mirror it is actually a wall with a hole in it. He simply ‘mirrors’ actions with both hands (an astonishingly easy feat if you try it yourself sometime) on either side of the hole with the background items positioned so as to make them appear as a reflected image. As far as the banana goes it is most likely that he simply placed the banana in such a way so that a small movement allowed the banana to fall behind the book where it was hidden; he could have done a million things to vanish the banana including a trick book, a stooge, a pull, etc.
The illusion was created by taking advantage of your own knowledge of how a mirror works. Since everything was placed as it should be your brain assumed that it was a legitimate mirror. He made sure to indirectly tell you everything was as it should be. Products in foreground and background were arranged accordingly, the letters on the coffee cup were in the proper alignment, and he even made a clicking sound when he touched the two pencils together. In regards to our Hoffman text regarding the fundamental problem of vision is that this visual scene has countless possible interpretations. It could be as I described, it could be two men each using opposite hands, it could be a green-screen with footage from another mirror that he shot earlier being broadcasted within the frame, etc. etc. However, it is obvious that the most probable solution is that it is as he describes it, a mirror reflection of what you are seeing up front. That is, if any of the other things were the case a slight change in view would reveal the deception (this is why the camera is mounted and does not move throughout the effect).
An interesting last point to make here is that if you let the video completely load, then make quick clicks along the bar at the bottom to quickly move forward and backward in time you can notice several changes between the picture in the foreground and background which betray the idea that the background is a mirror image. This shows that you become “blind” to small inconsistencies that are in fact right in front of your eyes. Magic does not have to be at all perfect to still create the illusion, or better yet, magic doesn’t have to be perfect because YOU will still create the illusion in your mind. Thankfully your visual intelligence is good enough to help magicians out so that the effect is much better than they could possibly make it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrPgJrU6y-Y
I couldn’t resist this bit of magic as I was watching through youtube video’s analyzing various effects regarding the fundamentals and rules discussed in Hoffman. This is perhaps one of the greatest 2 minutes of magic you can perform. This is Tommy Wonder’s “Ring, Watch and Wallet” effect which gained him great notoriety in the 70’s. For this last part I’m simply going to explain, without explaining how the trick is exactly done, the visual tricks being used to create this illusion.
As usual the fundamental problems of both vision in general and depth in particular are utilized. The key to magic is to make the effect look natural to exploit the fundamental problem with vision. Since your visual intelligence is going to construct the most likely explanation for the ambiguous sensory perceptions you experience during the trick, the only thing the magician has to do is to make his actual actions appear “similar enough” to the most likely function that this movement is serving in order to ensure that your visual intelligence does not begin to construct alternative explanations.
It’s true Tommy does utilize misdirection here, I don’t want to talk about that, only the magic that happens in front of your eyes, not while you’re not looking. On top of misdirection Tommy uses sound effects, basic origami, as well as some more basic rules of proximity and continuity (e.g. when he folds the money in his hands), in order to create the effect that the items being placed in the bag are following the paths they are, when in actuality they are following far different paths from beginning to end. This is by far my favorite magic effect of all time.

testing perception

I don't have my book yet but I remember this video from another class when we were talking about eyewitness testimonials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4 .
Eyewitness testimonials made by victims are sometimes mistakes. According to http://psy2.ucsd.edu/~hflowe/eyepsych.htm our memory of an event may not always be exactly what happened. And if there is a stimulus such as a weapon, we tend to focus more on that and pay less attention to the surroundings. The video I posted is a great example of focusing on one thing and not seeing something right next to it.

Note to self: Don't open up a "funny" attachment from a friend while trying to add a hyperlink to my blog post. Here is the correct link for the interview.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=130732146&m=130833899

After looking at other students blogs from previous semesters, since I'm still without the book, I thought "colorblind individuals" sounded interesting to do some research on. I found a site on the different types of color deficiencies color blind people face.

Reds and greens are often indistinguishable to the color blind. This is not normally a problem except in cases where the colors convey important information; therefore text would be helpful in these types of situations.

The most common broad category of color-blindness is often called red-green color-blindness, but this does not mean that these people cannot see reds or greens. They simply have a harder time differentiating between them. Not all reds and greens are indistinguishable. It would be easy for someone with a red-green deficiency to tell the difference between a light green and a dark red, for example. A lot depends—at least in part—on how dark the colors are. If the red is approximately as dark as the green, there is a greater likelihood that the colors will be confused. Also, there is some evidence that people with red-green color-blindness see reds and greens as yellows, oranges and beiges. This means that yellows, oranges, and beiges can be confused with greens and reds. The colors least affected are the blues.

When it comes to red deficiencies (Protanopia and protanomaly) the color receptors (cones) in the eyes of people with protanopia are not sensitive to long wavelengths (the reds). Reds look more like beiges and appear to be somewhat darker than they actually are. The greens tend to look similar to the reds. Protanomaly is milder than protanopia, but the end result is similar. Although many people with protanomaly can distinguish some reds and greens, they cannot do so as easily as someone with color-normal vision, and, as with protanopia, reds tend to look darker as well.

When it come to green deficiencies (Deuteranopia and deuteranomaly) which is the most common…people with these conditions have cones that are insensitive to medium wavelengths (greens), but the end result is similar to protanopia, with the exception that reds do not look as dark. Deuteranomaly is the less serious of the two conditions. Although individuals with deuteranomaly probably cannot see reds and greens in the same way that color-normal people can, they can often distinguish between the shades of reds and greens relatively accurately.

Furthermore, blue deficiencies (Tritanopia) is the least common kind of colorblindness. Tritanopia is the insensitivity to short wavelengths (the blues). In general blues and greens can be confused, but yellows are also affected in that they can seem to disappear or appear as lighter shades of red.

Lastly, some people have no color blindness (Rod monochromacy or achromacy) which a small amount of people experience. The cones of the eye are non-functional, so the rods (receptors which can only differentiate between light and dark) are the only available source of visual information. Individuals with achromacy see no color at all. Theirs is a world of black, white, and shades of gray. They often have poor visual acuity and have an aversion to bright light. This is the only group for which "color-blindness" is a label that fits, since all other groups have the ability to see some color.

http://webaim.org/articles/visual/colorblind

After reading the first chapter of our book, I found interesting topic about animal perception and plants. In the book, the author gives the example of the Venus flytrap that is one of the rare plants that can sense vibration on order to move quickly to capture prey.
I found an interesting video about animal Superpowers. According to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCVYgTwNGB4 bird device has a compass that vibrates when pointed in a pre-programmed direction. How does that work? There are two microscopes and screen in the helm that you can see the view form the microscope. Also, there are two anthenas on your hands, so when you touching the ground or anything you can see what is inside. According to te video, it is very helpful in learning kids the environment, getting to know things in a very interesting way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCVYgTwNGB4

The topic that interested me most in Chapter 1 was how different animals see and perceive things in everyday life. When I was web surfing, I came across a website that had pictures of what animals can see compared to what humans can see. All vertebrates have an eye that takes images in somewhat like a camera, but they may not work in all the same ways. Some animals might not see the rich colors that we can see. The bird however, can see things that humans cannot see. They are able to see ultraviolet light, in which humans can only see by using special lenses and equipment.
As a result of these different types of eyes' shapes and structures, different animals can see different things. There were many examples shown on this website. For example; prairie dogs and squirrels cannot see reds or greens, and can only perceive the blues and yellows of their surroundings. Sharks have few retinal cones, which means they see mostly black and white. Sea turtles have a special type of vision which helps them see in the dark ocean. Their photoreceptors have red oil droplets which block the shorter light wavelengths. Becuase of this, they can see reds, yellows, and oranges, but have a harder time seeing greens and blues.
I thought all of these things were very interesting. It's amazing how a simple eye in different creatures can create such a variety of colors and sights.
Here is the website. There are a lot of links that can take you farther into this topic from the page!

I have always loved and felt a strong connection to animals, so the part about animal special senses really captured my attention. We of course interact and communicate with the world and others with 5 senses plus language. Other animals, on the other hand do not have the capability for language however they have extra or special sense we do not. According to the article “Humans and Animals’ Sense: Differences and Similarities, “Human understand things animal cannot understand, and animals perceive things humans cannot perceive”. Dogs’ noses are a million times more sensitive and they can hear many sounds we cannot. It is also commonly believed that dogs can sense our emotions like fear. I enjoy watching Ceaser Milan, the Dog Whisper who is a firm believer in this. Ceasar emphasizes to keep a positive and calm mindset and strong body posture when dealing with troubled dogs because they can sense feelings like inferior or fear. I find this to also be true with my own dogs, they seem to sense people’s anxiety. When we are about to leaving for a trip, or I remember one time driving in bad weather with my dogs get just as excited and anxious as we are about the situation. Evolutionary speaking these sense probably had some advantage for living and communicating in packs. The article “Can Dogs sense our Emotions” by Dr. Nicholas Dodman states that dogs can sense our primary emotions, like anxiety, fear and anger. However it cannot be proven that dogs understand secondary emotions like jealous, guilt or empathy. So that dogs does not really understand when you are upset or feel bad when they do something wrong.

Dogs are not the only ones with special senses, eagles and other birds see better than humans, “if humans would like to see like a hawk, they would have to look through binoculars that magnify eight times what they see. Bats and Dolphins use sound waves to navigate themselves in the world. Since I work with horses, I thought I’d read more about their senses. According to the article Horse Senses, horse can hear, smell, and sense touch better than humans. Touch is the primary tool of communication between horse and humans. They will react to tension in the body as fear in the rider and become nervous. However petting a horse can make it feel safe and calm. Horse seem to be always on guard and cautious about their surroundings. This is almost undoubtedly a result of evolution.

According to the articles, it seems that the most important thing in common is that humans and animals are conscious of their environment and are sensitive to it. There is a connection between our bodies and our mind so much that outside stimuli are experienced and understand through their interaction with all animals bodies, in other words we empirically determine our environment.

http://www.extension.org/pages/Horse_Senses
http://www.ummah.com/islam/taqwapalace/senses.html
http://www.petplace.com/dogs/can-dogs-sense-our-emotions/page1.aspx

As I read through these chapters and think, man what is this person talking about, I soon realize I have conducted these experiments before. As a kid and an adult I find myself being curious about how far I can take my ear, eyes and even my lungs. Which comes to my point and or topic, Method of Limits.

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/hearing.html

http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/Self-Test-for-Hearing-Loss/

http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/Self-Test-for-Hearing-Loss/